Neck-yoke keeper.



P. TRIPP.

NECK YOKE KEEPER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, 1912.

1,052,699, Patented Feb. 11, 1913.

FRED TRIPP, OF MOUNT CARROLL, ILLINOIS.

NECK-YOKE KEEPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 3, 1912.

Patented Feb. 11,1913.

Serial No. 707,587.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED TRIPP, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mount Carroll, in the county of Carroll and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Neck-Yoke Keepers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to carriages and wagons, and more especially to neck yokes;

and the object of the same is to produce an improved attachment for the pole-iron in the nature of a keeper for preventing the ring of the neck yoke from being accidentally displaced from and lost off the tip of the ole in case the tugs or traces should brealf or the team should move suddenly forward with respect to the pole. This object is carried out by constructing the keeper in the manner hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as shown in the drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pole tip and neck yoke, showing the parts in full lines in their normal positions and the neck yoke ring retained by this improved keeper, and showing the parts in dotted lines with the neck yoke standing below the pole tip; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the keeper alone, and Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal sectional view thereof.

In the drawings I have used the reference letter P to designate the pole, whose front end only is shown in the present case, Y is the neck yoke whose ends are to be connected with the horse collars in a manner well understood and whose center has a linked connection C of any suitable size or character with a ring R which embraces the pole tip and the ordinary iron I thereon. Said iron is in the form of a metallic strap secured upon the tip of the pole, looped around its front extremity as at L so that a third horse may be at times attached thereto, and carried under the front end of the pole where it has a shoulder S against which the ring R rests when the team strains to the rear to hold back the vehicle in a manner well understood. N0 novelty whatever is claimed for the parts thus far described and designated on the drawings by reference letters.

Coming now more particularly to the details of the present invention the retaining device or keeper forming the subject matter of the same is perhaps best seen in detail in Fig. 2 where it is drawn to a larger scale than elsewhere. It is by preference made of a rather stout resilient rod, preferably round and of iron or steel, bent into a loop or eye 1 the throat 2 of which is nearly closed, thence continued into nearly parallel but slightly diverging arms 3 and 4. extending from the said throat 2 and in a plane oblique to the plane in which the eye is situated, and the extremities or tips of said arms bent inward toward each other as at 5 and 6. The size and shape of this keeper are such that it may be engaged with the pole tip and neck yoke ring in the manner best seen in Fig. 1. That is to say, the loop or eye 1 is engaged with the draft loop L at the front end of the pole by passing one of the inturned extremities through said loop and moving the keeper along until its eye stands therein as shown, then the two inturned extremities are sprung apart and passed astride the strap iron I where it is bent downward into the open shoulder S, and allowed to spring to gether so that they engage within or above said shoulder as seen. Meanwhile the ring R of the neck yoke has been run back as far as possible and to the position it will occupy when the horses strain to the rear to resist the forward impulse of the vehicle. Without my attachment it is well known that if one or more of the tugs or traces break or if the team starts forward suddenly, the neck yoke ring is quite likely to be drawn off the tip of the pole, with the result that when the driver attempts to hold back and probably does draw the horses back on their haunches, no retarding effect is produced upon the vehicle because the pole shoves forward under the Weight of the load and is not checked by the neck yoke as its ring is disengaged from in front of the shoulder S. With the use of this attachment, however, it is impossible to disengage the ring R from the pole tip, for if the above accident should occur and the ring should run forward on the pole and even over and around its loop L, it will fall onto the arms of the attachment even though the neck yoke passes clear around the pole to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. When however it is desired to disconnect the neck yoke from the pole, it is only necessary to spring apart the arms of the attachment sufliciently to disengage their inturned extremities from above the shoulder S, when the device can be drawn out of position and the ring R moved ofi' the tip of the pole. I would make this attachment of rather stout iron rod, tempered to suit the necessity, and properly finished as by galvanizing or japanning so as to prevent rust; although the exact materials, proportions, and finish of the device are not essential to the successful operation.

WVhat is claimed as new is The herein described attachment for neck yokes made of a single piece of resilient metal rod bent at its center into a loop nearly closed at its throat and adapted to engage the loop at the front of the poleiron and its side arms diverging slightly from saidthro-at and standing in a plane oblique to that occupied by said loop, the remote extremities of said arms being turned toward each other and adapted to be sprung into engagement with the shoulder of said iron, substantially as'hereinbefore described. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

FRED TRIPP. Witnesses:

JOHN R. CONNELL, GEORGE L. HOFFMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

